


How To Lie To Your Parents (and say you made friends in college)

by xslytherclawx



Series: Chanukah 5780 [6]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Canon Jewish Character, F/M, Fluff, Hanukkah, Jewish Hermione, Jewish Holidays, LGBT Jewish Character, Viktor's last name is Krumov, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:27:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21912154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx
Summary: The university Hillel had events laid out for all eight nights of Chanukah. Hermione knew this because she’d helped organize them, even though she was just a freshman.She just didn't know how to convincingly lie to her parents and tell them she’d actually made friends.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Viktor Krum
Series: Chanukah 5780 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562047
Comments: 10
Kudos: 49
Collections: All Your Faves Are Jewish, xslytherclawx & thestias's harry potter multiverse, xslytherclawx's jewish fic





	How To Lie To Your Parents (and say you made friends in college)

The university Hillel had events laid out for all eight nights of Chanukah. Hermione knew this because she’d helped organize them, even though she was just a freshman. It was never too early to get involved in student clubs, and Hillel was something she believed strongly in. Jewish students deserved a community on campus, especially since so many of them were now somewhere new, without their old, comfortable communities.

She thought this was especially important considering that exams ran through almost all of Chanukah this year.

She ran into Anthony Goldstein, another freshman, and his boyfriend in the student center on the fifth day of Chanukah. Well, she’d been minding her own business, and Anthony had waved her over. She liked Anthony. He was nice, and smart, and he actually  _ cared _ about school and wasn’t just there to party or go wild. Besides, he’d said once that his uncle was a rabbi who was married to another man (and had kids!) which had made Hermione feel very proud to be Jewish. 

Not that she ever really  _ wasn’t _ proud to be Jewish.

Anthony was also one of the handful of people who went to the Reform services, so they had that in common. Most people, she’d learned, who went to Hillel every week in college, had been raised Conservative, or sometimes even Orthodox. The Reform services were always smaller, but more intimate, and they  _ usually _ had a minyan.

So she went over to talk to Anthony Goldstein.

“Hermione! Hi!” Anthony said. “You know Neville, right?”

“Yes, of course,” Hermione said, even though she’d probably met him twice before. From what Anthony had said about his parents, they really wouldn’t care about him dating a boy – even one who wasn’t Jewish.

She did kind of get the impression that she terrified Neville, though. She tended to have that effect on boys. And some girls. 

“We actually need another person for trivia tonight, if you’re free. It’s after Chanukah services,” he added. “Don’t worry.”

She only had two exams next week – the rest were over, or final papers she’d already submitted. Otherwise she never would have dreamed of agreeing. It was really the thought of facing her parents after the semester was over that did it. 

Her club involvement was all well and good. Hillel, College Democrats, Mock Trial – she’d even put in some hours at French Club and Latin Club, and she’d gone to the International Students Coffee Hour almost weekly even though she was from Westchester.

But, well, she really hadn’t spent any time with other students in a casual setting that  _ wasn’t _ a club. And Anthony was nice, and he understood how serious she was about her academic career. It wasn’t like he was trying to get her to shirk her responsibilities. She knew that.

Besides, if she went, she might be able to more convincingly lie to her parents and tell them she’d actually made friends.

“Okay,” she agreed. “But only if it’s after services.”

“It is,” Anthony said. “And it’ll be me, Neville, my friend Padma, Neville’s friend Ernie, Ernie’s friend Cedric, and Cedric’s friend Viktor. So – really, we probably need more women on the team.”

“You don’t say,” Hermione said.

“Cedric’s girlfriend Cho  _ used _ to come,” Neville said. “But things have been kind of awkward since they broke up. And I’m really pretty useless, anyway.”

“You’re not useless,” Anthony said. He turned to Hermione. “He helped us win last week.”

“How often do questions about plants even come up?” Neville asked.

“Often enough that it’s ridiculous you’d ever consider yourself to be useless on our team.”

* * *

The nice thing about Chanukah at Hillel was that there was, at least at their Hillel, no dividing up into groups based on movement. They all brought their Chanukiot, said the blessings, and lit their candles. They drank Manischewitz, ate some latkes, and then, instead of going back to her dorm, Hermione left with Anthony.

“Viktor wants us to meet him at Chabad, first,” Anthony said.

Hermione was suddenly aware that she was wearing jeans. She didn’t really know if such a thing mattered at Chabad, though she knew it was totally acceptable at Hillel. Hell, most of the girls at Hillel wore leggings as pants. Jeans were kind of a step up.

“Okay,” she said anyway, because she knew her parents wanted her to make friends, and she’d done a terrible job of it so far. Besides, Viktor being at Chabad meant that this was another Jewish student they were meeting, and as much as Hermione would deny it, the idea was comforting.

They reached the little blue house, which had a gigantic chanukiah set up out front with six of the lanterns lit up. There was a group of students milling about on the lawn, and Anthony seemed to recognise one of them, because he said, “Viktor!” 

A tall, skinny guy in a bright red kippa turned his head. He looked like he was a couple of years older than them, maybe a junior or senior. He smiled when he saw Anthony.

“Anthony! Hello!” He had an accent which Hermione couldn’t  _ quite _ place, but thought sounded Eastern European. Which kind of explained why they were at Chabad. Most of the observant Jews she knew from Eastern Europe were Orthodox; Reform really hadn’t historically made much of an impact east of Germany. (She had, of course, done research on this). 

Viktor walked over to them, and Hermione stopped herself from offering her hand. She didn’t know if he was shomer negiah, like a number of people at Chabad, and if he were, she knew offering her hand would be exactly the wrong thing to do.

“Oh, this is Hermione Granger. She’s also Jewish, and pretty much single-handedly planned Hillel’s Chanukah celebration. Hermione, this is Viktor Krumov.”

“Nice to meet you,” Hermione said. “And I didn’t – not single-handedly. I helped, that’s all.”

“You are a freshman?” Viktor asked.

“Yes,” Hermione said. “I study political science and history – well, I will be officially adding history once my first semester grades come in. And I’ll be adding a Jewish studies minor, too. And women’s studies.”

Viktor hummed. “That is a lot.”

“Yes,” Hermione agreed. “But I want to get into one of the top law schools in the country, so I need to have a lot.”

“We might just win at trivia this time,” Anthony said. “Though, of course, winning isn’t the most important thing.”

“Winning  _ is _ important,” Viktor said. “We have not won since Cho stopped coming.”

“I’ll try my best,” Hermione said.

* * *

They won. Hermione helped, of course; she was smart, and she seemed to be one of the few in the group with a solid liberal arts knowledge. She supposed she shouldn’t be too surprised, considering that she knew Anthony was pre-med, and his boyfriend studied  _ something _ at the agricultural college (she wasn’t sure of his exact major, or if he’d even declared one yet).

Afterward, they all walked to a local restaurant to get celebratory nachos. Hermione had never been before, and she felt a little awkward being part of a group where she really didn’t know most of the people.

She sat between Anthony and Viktor as everyone crowded into a corner booth that was really much too small.

Viktor evidently was not shomer negiah, because he wasn’t taking care not to touch Hermione. He didn’t seem to mind how close they were (she could feel his thigh against hers).

“How do you say your name again?” Viktor asked her after they’d all ordered their drinks.

“Hermione,” she said.

“And you have a Hebrew name?”

“Oh,” Hermione said. “Yes. Of course. It’s Devorah.”

“Devorah,” Viktor said. “The judge?”

“Yes,” Hermione said. “It was my great-grandmother’s name. She was the first woman in our family to go to university, and she was really amazing in her own right. She did a lot of fundraising and organizing to help Jewish refugees – her parents were refugees, too. Though I think, really, as Jews, we all have an ancestor somewhere who fled persecution.”

“That is true,” Viktor said. 

* * *

They split the bill, and then went their separate ways. Anthony, Neville, Cedric, and Ernie went off in one direction, and Padma, Viktor, and Hermione in the other.

They made small talk – Padma’s twin sister Parvati was on Hermione’s floor, but if you asked Hermione, they really weren’t all that much alike – until they reached Padma’s dorm. She said goodbye and went inside.

Viktor walked with Hermione the rest of the way to her dorm, which was just a few buildings down.

“I hope you come to trivia next semester,” he said.

“I think I will,” she said. It had been fun, and worst case, she could always skip the post-trivia bonding and go right to study if she needed to. “Are you going home for break?” she asked.

“Oh, yes,” Viktor said. “I live in New York. We moved there when I was eleven.”

“I live in Westchester,” Hermione said.

“We should meet each other,” Viktor said. “Here – let me give you my number.”

She handed him her phone without hesitation. She watched as he put his number in and then texted himself from her phone.

“Are you going to Chabad for the rest of Chanukah?” Hermione asked.

“Probably,” Viktor said. “But I think I could be convinced to go to Hillel.”

“I should tell you I’m Reform,” Hermione said.

“I should tell you I’m not actually a Chabadnik.”

Hermione laughed. “You’re not?”

“I didn’t grow up religious,” Viktor said. “My parents – we used to have a dinner for Pesach, but it wasn’t a real Seder. The closest synagogue was Orthodox, and they were all very welcoming, and so was everyone at Chabad.”

“I mean,” Hermione said. “There’s no one way to be Jewish – or even Orthodox.”

“That’s true,” Viktor said. “But I thought I should tell you that I’m not a Chabadnik because… I’d like to kiss you.”

Oh. “I’d like to kiss you, too,” Hermione said. 

Viktor smiled, leaned in, and kissed her.

Maybe Hermione wouldn’t have to lie to her parents after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me on [tumblr](http://xslytherclawx.tumblr.com)!  
> Please feel free to join my [Harry Potter discord server](https://discord.gg/yb6bS3c)!


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